Moville.Records

Other.Information

Old photographs Old photos of Moville and the surrounding areas.

Maps Old maps of the two parishes in Moville.

Books Read a history of Moville, and see other references to the area.

Lewis' Topographical Dictionary Extracts from the Topographical Dictionary published in 1837

FHC Records Family History Centre (LDS) film references for Moville records

Moville.Records

Jaunting Cars at Moville Pier

notes on.canada and south africa

G.M Theal - The Cape Illustrated Magazine - 01 May 1895

Sixteen hours steaming took us to Lough Foyle, where we anchored off the village of Moville, in order to take in the mails and the Irish contingent of passengers coming down from Londonderry to meet us. The steamer was timed to remain here ten hours. The hills in their autumn dress, dotted over with stacks of oats and barley, and divided into plots of various sizes and shapes, looked very pretty from the deck. We were so close that with ordinary field glasses we could see parties of men digging potatoes in the fields.

Moville had an evil reputation with the passengers on board, some of whom had visited it once, and declared they would never do so again. They described its people as perfect land sharks and its jarvies are the greatest pests in all the world. The Madeira beggars, they said, were pleasant to deal with compared with the Moville jaunting car drivers, and they strongly advised those of us who were strangers to the place to be satisfied with a look at it from our secure position. But I had never been on Irish soil, and now that the opportunity offered of seeing an Irish village, with a whole morning to spare, I could not resist the temptation to go ashore. Several others were of the same mind, and as a boat with three very civil and respectable looking men drew alongside, we prepared to go down the gangway.

"I will just take a stroll about the place" said I "and see what it is like."

"I'll bet you a sovereign to a sixpence that you don't stroll a hundred yards from the landing place" replied one of the experienced in Moville ways.

I did not close the offer but I felt sure that if I chose to do so I should win. Alas for my confidence in myself. I should certainly have lost.

At the landing place a number of car drivers were waiting to receive us. We had scarcely put our feet on shore when they began to pester us in every variety of tone, and soon the din became almost deafening. The streets of the village were only a few paces distant, but to get over those few paces was soon seen to be impossible. It had rained heavily the night before, the roads were sloughs of mud, and if left to ourselves not one of the party but would have been glad for the convenience of a vehicle. But to be forced to take one was another matter. I and some others turned towards the boat, with the intention of at once returning on board, but the boatmen had disappeared. I was standing on a narrow ridge of comparatively dry ground, which appeared to lead up to the village, and on each side was a perfect quagmire. The position strategically was a bad one. The jarvies realised this at once, and before I could move away one jaunting car was across the ridge in front and another behind.

"You might get rid of a limpet" said a driver at a little distance, "but you won't get rid of them till they see you on the outside of a car."

Advance and retreat were alike cut off. I looked round and saw that all who had come ashore except myself had been obliged to submit, and were being driven off through the mud, so I got on the car in front, and asked to be taken to the end of the street, perhaps fifty steps away.

On the car I had at least the relief from the noisy pestering I had undergone, and therefore did not remonstrate when I was driven through the village, which, indeed, presented nothing worthy of inspection. I saw a stream of cars with my fellow victims on them on in front, so I merely asked the driver where he was taking me.

"Where would I go" said he "but to the old castle, sure everybody likes to see that: it's the finest sight in Ireland."

His tongue never ceased. He told wonderful stories about the eccentricities of the mare, the badness of the roads in every other direction than that in which he was taking me, the hard times, and I know not what else.

"The finest site in Ireland" when at last I got to it, turned out to be some remnants of the walls of a plain building never of any great size. A woman was there collecting a fee for inspecting the ruins and offering for sale a pamphlet purporting to contain the history of the castle, from which I learned that it was built in 1305 by Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster, in order to protect his estates from the Irish chiefs in the neighbourhood.

There is a good view from the high ground at no great distance from the ruin, but nothing to go into ecstasy over, and if it were even the greatest sight in the world it would be utterly spoiled by the people who pester visitors to buy shell necklaces and blackthorn sticks, though it is true these are to the car drivers only as house-flies to hornets.

On the way back to Moville the driver pointed out a circular dyke of earth, where a Danish round tower had stood in times long gone, but I did not stop to inspect it. When we reached the village and I had paid the exorbitant fare which was asked, I purchased a few trifles in a shop at about double London prices, and then tried again to look at the place but the pestering recommenced and I gave it up. With some others I made the best of my way to the landing place, where we waited until the boatmen appeared, keeping our tormenters at bay as best we could, and very glad when we got again on board the Vancouver.

In justice to the boatmen I must add that their charges were most reasonable and their conduct all that could be desired. But as for Moville, it may be my fate to be in Lough Foyle again, - I was there when returning to England on the Labrador, - but no more shall I be seen among the car drivers on that spot of Irish soil, no, not if I know it.

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